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Why Advisory Is Broken. And What Comes Next
It starts with a conversation.
By Eric Eager
10X Advisory
For years, advisory services have been positioned as the future of the CPA profession. Conferences are filled with “moving up the value chain” sessions, and firm leaders are under growing pressure to make the shift. But here’s the hard truth: most firms are still trying to deliver tomorrow’s services using yesterday’s methods.
MORE Client Accounting Services here | MORE Tech and Fintech here | MORE: Steven Ladd: Start Advisory with Empathy | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Advisory-CAS Ascending: What Research Reveals About the Future
Long discovery meetings. Manual analysis. Generic PowerPoint decks. Pricing models built on billable hours instead of business outcomes. These are the hallmarks of the old world of advisory—time-intensive, inconsistent, and hard to scale.
And they simply don’t hold up anymore. Today’s business owners are moving faster, expecting more, and looking to their advisors for real-time, relevant, and actionable guidance. But most firms are still operating with a rearview mirror—offering valuable insights that often arrive too late to act.
How to Cultivate Holistic Wealth
A deep dive into the SHiFT framework.
By Jackie Meyer
Success is often defined in dollar signs and business metrics, but as a seasoned advisor you know that true wealth extends far beyond the financial statement. After all, what’s the point of a seven-figure firm if your health is in shambles, your relationships are strained, or you have no time to enjoy life?
MORE: Five Hard-Earned Lessons from Exiting an Accounting Firm | It’s Never Too Early to Plan Your Exit Strategy | Beyond Blocking: More Time Management Strategies | Reclaim Your Hours with Time Management and Productivity Hacks | Hiring Strategies for Your Dream Team | Streamline Your Operations with Systems and Processes | From Compliance to Advisory: Shifting the Value Proposition | How I Became an Accidental Entrepreneur | Build a Seven-Figure Firm in Four Hours a Week
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In this article, we’re going to zoom out and look at the whole picture of what it means to be a “Balanced Millionaire.” This is about cultivating holistic wealth across all areas of life, using the SHiFT Framework – Social, Health, Financial, Time. These are the four pillars of holistic wealth and well-being that support a truly balanced and fulfilling life for a high-achieving professional.
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AI Isn’t Erasing Tax Careers. It’s Rewriting Them | ARC
Firms must build new pathways that develop reviewers, judgment and client-facing skills.
Sponsored by Radical Pricing by the Radical CPA, Jody Padar | See Today’s Special Offer
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Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto, Liz Mason, and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation
Artificial intelligence may not eliminate the entry-level tax professional. But it is dismantling the job that many firms still use to train one.
That’s the conversation driving a new episode of the Accounting ARC podcast featuring Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation; and Liz Mason, CPA, CEO of High Rock Accounting.
The conversation begins with a small tax firm that hires six interns each year and teaches them to prepare returns much as earlier generations learned: working from paper documents, identifying relevant numbers, mapping those figures to tax forms, and entering the data into tax software.
MORE Accounting ARC: Accounting Internships Need an Upgrade | The CPA Career Nobody Talks About | Conference Season Exposes Accounting’s Knowledge Gap | The Feedback Mistake That Costs You Your Best People | Is Your Boss Really the Problem? | Most Accountants Are Missing This AI Shift | AI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds | Efficiency Is the Wrong Goal for AI | Accounting’s Hidden Talent Risk: The Sandwich Generation | Built Fast. Sold Faster. Broken Later? The Truth About Accounting Tech | Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet
The firm owner sees the process as an apprenticeship that helps students bridge the gap between an individual tax course and real-world preparation. Shimamoto sees value in teaching interns how information moves from source documents to a completed return. Mason agrees with the objective but challenges the method.
“From a holistic learning exploration, sure, yes, that is a way to learn,” Mason says. “From a where-we-are-today perspective, I think that’s a giant disservice to these interns.”
The Hidden Factory in Accounting: Why Rework Is Quietly Eating Your Capacity
The question firm leaders often ask is simple: Where did the capacity go?
By William Englehaupt
Accounting firms rarely struggle because they lack plans, tools, or capable professionals. Most engagements begin with detailed project plans and clear milestones. Yet despite all of that structure, work still arrives late, review pressure spikes at the end, and teams feel chronically overextended.
MORE Productivity
The answer usually isn’t visible on the plan. It sits in what many firms experience but rarely name—the hidden factory.
Thirteen Reasons Why Accounting Firms Merge
Check your motivation, then create your strategy.
By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Mergers: Your Complete Guide
Why do firms merge?
Whether you’re looking to acquire a smaller firm, merge upward into a larger one or join forces with an equal, answering this basic question honestly and objectively is key to laying the groundwork for a successful merger.
MORE by Marc Rosenberg
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In the chart below, the main reasons that firms seek mergers are listed. Some of these objectives will benefit all parties across the board, while others provide the greatest advantage to one or the other of the merger partners based on their unique situation.
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